I love what Twin Cities artists have done to expand the holiday songbook. Whether it’s dusting off a classic and giving it new life or penning a new song to add to the canon, the Twin Cities have done their part to keep the holiday spirit alive. We crafted a top five Twin Cities holiday performances with the help of world-class vocalist, DJ, and City Cast contributor, PaviElle French. We also brought music nut Keith Harris, one of the owner-editors of Racket, into the mix. On our podcast episode, PaviElle discussed the importance of holiday music evoking nostalgia and warmth, and she hit the nail on the mistletoe with that one. All these songs will transport you back to Christmas past while also giving you that warm sweater feeling we’re all looking for during the holiday season.
For each song, I asked PaviElle and Keith to rank the song on two scales. The first is the Hallmark Movie Montage Viability Scale, aka the HMMV. Effectively, how usable would this song be in a Hallmark movie montage? The second scale is the Jammin’ scale. On a scale of 1 to Jammin’, just how jammin’ is this song? We hope this list helps you work a little bit of local flavor into your holiday playlists. Enjoy!
5 - The Andrews Sisters - “Winter Wonderland”
When we were putting together our preliminary lists to cull from, Keith Harris pointed out that we had to get some Andrews Sisters in the mix. The Andrews Sisters hail from the North Side of Minneapolis and their run starting in the 1920s is the stuff of legend. The Sisters best-known holiday work is with Mr. Egg Nog himself, Bing Crosby, but we took the Sisters going solo on a spirited rendition of “Winter Wonderland.”
HMMV: 7/20Jammin’: 7/20Overall Holiday Score: 14
4 - Mint Condition - “Little Drummer Boy”
The legendary R&B chameleons, Mint Condition, provided so many different flavors of music in their decades-long career. Their album “Healing Season” has Mint doing the holidays right with top-notch musicians and inspired arrangements. We pulled out their New Orleans send-up of “Little Drummer Boy,” which features some choice work from their vocalist and sometimes-drummer Stokley behind the kit playing a second-line figure. His work on the snare drum almost broke our jammin’ meter, but we were able to get it up and running.
HMMV: 11/20Jammin’: 20/20Overall Holiday Score: 31
3 - Low - “Just Like Christmas”
First off, we know. Low is from Duluth. But Low was a thriving and central part of the Twin Cities music scene throughout their legendary run as a band, and it only feels right to fit them into this list. And Low’s original tune “Just Like Christmas” is an incredible contribution to the holiday canon. The song is sung by Mimi Parker, whose angelic voice gives just the right spirit to the tune. The music world is still grieving the death of Parker, who passed away in November 2022. We are lucky we have songs like this to remember her with.
HMMV: 19/20Jammin’: 14/20Overall Holiday Score: 33
2 - Robert Robinson - “We Three Kings”
Robert Robinson is the voice of Twin Cities music. The man can shake the walls with his thunder while also going whisper-quiet to conjure an intimacy rarely heard in concert halls. We also learned that our own PaviElle was a student and mentee of Robinson in his City Songs Youth Choir. It’s not really the holiday season until Robert Robinson is pumping out of your speakers and his multi-tempo take on “We Three Kings” is one of his top-tier performances.
HMMV: 18/20Jammin’: 18/20Overall Holiday Score: 36
1 - Thomasina Petrus - “Mary Did You Know”
You can learn a lot about an artist’s dedication to their craft based on how they approached the COVID shutdowns of 2020. For Minnesota’s own Thomasina Petrus, her response was to keep singing in any safe format she could find. That brought Petrus out to parking garages to catch the right acoustics and deliver a stunning rendition of the modern Christmas carol “Mary Did You Know.” From the moment Thomasina Petrus opens her mouth, it’s clear that she knows how to exude nostalgia and warmth on a concert stage, a parking garage, or a recording studio. The goosebumps really come in when Petrus adds the snaps and turns the parking ramp into a full-on jam session. PaviElle requested that the jammin’ scale go all the way up to 12 for Ms. Petrus, and we were happy to oblige.
HMMV: 18/20Jammin’: 21/20Overall Holiday Score: 39
Thank you to Keith and PaviElle for joining me for this holiday music Top 5. If you are looking for a longer selection of Twin Cities holiday music, I put together a Spotify playlist.
